Rhinish Republic
The Rhinish Republic (German: Rheinische Republik) is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered in the North and the East by the German Democratic Republic, in the West by the kingdom of Benelux and in the Sounth by the French Republic. Its territory covers roughly 9,000 km2 and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. History Prehistory Palaeolithic During the Middle Palaeolithic, ca 100,000-30,000 BP (the dates vary a great deal) western Europe, including the Rhine, was occupied by Neanderthal Man, to which belonged the Mousterian culture of stone tools. Neanderthal sites are denser to the south, where open forest prevailed and the limestone terrain offered more caves as dwelling. The Rhine ran through an open tundra, where Neanderthals hunted big game, such as the rhinoceros and the woolly mammoth. Accordingly, open air Mousterian sites have been discovered in and around the Rhine valley. Mesolithic Before about 5600 BC, the Rhine Valley, along with most of Europe, was occupied by Cro-magnon man in the Mesolithic stage of cultural development; that is, they hunted and gathered, but owned a larger and more specialized tool kit than the Palaeolithic people, knew more about the plants and animals, and even may have kept a few animals. Iron Age During the early Iron Age, both banks of the Rhine were inhabited by Celtic tribes. However, in the beginning of the Pre-Roman Iron Age, ca 600 BC, the Proto-Germanic tribes crossed the Weser River and the Aller River, and expanded the whole distance to the banks of the Rhine. This expansion is shown archaeologically in the form of the Jastorf culture. From ca 500 BC and onwards, the lower Rhine and not the Weser and the Aller would increasingly mark the border between the Celtic tribes and the Germanic tribes. 1945 - today The German authorities began to crack down on all forms of resistance to the new Socialist regime across the country after the referendum of 1951 saw the Saarland and Trier reject unification with the rest of Germany. This began a series of attacks against the Catholic Church which was successful across the nation; with the exception of the devout Rhineland in which the government had also attempted to restrict public gatherings and festivities. These new decrees from Berlin proved too much for the Rhinelanders as slogans such as “even the Fascists didn’t ban fun”. The Allies soon took interest in this development, as Germany’s industrial heartland an independent Rhineland could truly be a damaging blow to the Soviets! In January 1957, Konrad Adenauer called a meeting in the regional capital of Koblenz and declared the Rhinish Republic which would be governed along democratic roots. This new country was immediately recognised as legitimate by Western European countries, and the German authorities were unwilling to pursue the Rhinelanders as they seemed to be a people who were not mouldable to “socialist ideals”. German forces withdrew and French troops took up the defence of the Rhineland, they still serve to protect the Rhineland today as the treaty of Rhinish Independence signed by the GDR and the EEC states that the Rhinish Republic may not have a military that is larger than 100,000 troops.